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THE DIVIDE
Head coaches of women’s sports teams earn less than head coaches of men’s teams at Cal Poly
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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2021
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Cal Poly is in tiłhini, the Place of the Full Moon. We gratefully acknowledge, respect, and thank yak tityu tityu yak tiłhini, Northern Chumash Tribe of San Luis Obispo County and Region in whose homelands we are guests.
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A YEAR AND A HALF LATER, 2020 GRADUATES FINALLY HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO WALK STORY BY Elissa Luce DESIGNED BY Megan Anderson and Karen Ma
06
“A PETRI DISH IN PRISONS”: LIFE INSIDE
CALIFORNIA MEN’S COLONY DURING THE PANDEMIC STORY BY Cole Pressler DESIGNED BY Coby Chuang
14
THE DIVIDE: HEAD COACHES
OF WOMEN’S SPORTS TEAMS EARN LESS THAN HEAD COACHES OF MEN’S TEAMS AT CAL POLY
STORY BY Jack Clark DESIGNED BY Claire Lorimor and Nicole Herhusky
16
IN WAKE OF SEXUAL ASSAULT INCIDENTS,
STUDENTS LAUNCH INSTAGRAM PAGE TO BE A RESOURCE
STORY BY Lauren Emo DESIGNED BY Kayla Olow
17
CAL POLY’S MODERN-DAY SEGREGATION STORY BY Cassandra Garcia DESIGNED BY Zara Iqbal
LISTENING, REPORTING, STORYTELLING WITH YOU EVERY STEP OF THE WAY
CAL POLY COMMUNITY
COMBATS ANTI-ASIAN HATE By Naomi Vanderlip
“WE WANT TO GROW” WOW’s Cross-Cultural Experience is for more than the minority identity groups on campus By Amelia Wu
CAL POLY PLANS
TO SWITCH TO SEMESTERS By Catherine Allen
photo by Kyle Calzia
A YEAR & HALF LATER, 2020 graduates finally have the opportunity to walk
ARTS & STUDENT LIFE
MUSTANG NEWS
TUESDAY,DECEMBER 7, 2021
4
PERRY NALLE | COURTESY Perry Nalle, Kaia Anderson, Sarah Sherwin, Sophie Euerle and Katelyn Matheny (left to right) . BY ELISSA LUCE
As spring 2020 graduate Perry Nalle watched a movie with her parents, a college graduation scene began to play, and Nalle thought to herself, ‘Wow, I really missed out on that.” “I was really kind of having a pity party for myself and was bummed I didn’t get graduation,” Nalle said. “I was much more bummed about other
things, like events in my sorority and senior week and my senior project in addition to commencement.” Graduating from college at the start of the pandemic, meant 2020 graduates would not be able to experience the traditional in-person ceremony in Cal Poly’s Spanos Stadium — until now. This winter, Cal Poly will be welcoming the Class of 2020 grads back for a special in-person
commencement on Dec 12. Nutrition alumna Alyson Crowley said she was super disappointed after she watched her boyfriend graduate from Cal Poly in-person in 2021 because it looked like so much fun. “After watching his graduation I realized that that was a moment of life that I’m really bummed that we missed out on,” Crowley said.
Crowley said she is looking forward to the late ceremony because it is going to be like a giant reunion, but she feels that the commencement is not really about graduating since everyone has already moved on with their lives. “I feel like it is going to be more exciting as a time where we all are finally getting back together and getting to say all the things we wish
we had been able to say since we left for spring break and never came back,” Crowley said. Nalle is currently working as a recreation coordinator at Corte Madera Parks and Recreation where she interned for three months when she was at Cal Poly, and said she felt really fortunate to have found a fulltime job during the pandemic. “I work for a recreation department
would be weird to put on my gown again and walk across the stage when it’s something I feel like I already celebrated.” Butler is currently working at Adobe as a Solutions Consultant and said the most rewarding thing about graduating from Cal Poly is that she came out more creative and innovative because of the “Learn by Doing” mentality. “We didn’t have our head in a book the entire four years in college,” Butler said. “We had to actually put our learning into practice and I think that really sets us ahead in the real world.”
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2020
PERRY NALLE | COURTESY Perry Nalle gathers with family to celebrate graduating.
in the government so my job was in-person. I feel like I really did get to have a normal beginning to the job experience,” Nalle said. “My two best friends from college sat at home for a full year and didn’t find full-time jobs until just a couple months ago,
HANNAH RUTTER Experience industry management alumna (2020)
TUESDAY,DECEMBER 7, 2021
PERRY NALLE | COURTESY Perry Nalle and Sarah Koep (left to right).
ARTS & STUDENT LIFE
so I think I got really lucky.” Recreation parks and tourism administration alumna Tori Aronow is currently a wedding planning assistant and said COVID-19 did hinder her initial career goals. “Ideally I would have wanted to graduate and go into a company, but since I graduated during the pandemic my options felt like they were not as broad,” Aronow said. “No one in the event industry was really hiring, so that impacted that experience.” Aronow said the most important thing Cal Poly taught her was to say “yes,” take risks and be uncomfortable. “The way to learn is really to challenge yourself and to be
MUSTANG NEWS
I tried to stay positive and just be thankful that we only got one quarter that was ‘ruined;’ I think everyone kind of pitied us and it was weird not being able to process that I am finishing this important step in my life.
uncomfortable because if you are too comfortable you are never really going to grow,” Aronow said. Winter 2020 graduate and liberal studies alumna Madison Lewallen is currently getting her single subject teaching credential as well as a masters degree in educational technology. Lewallen teaches 8th grade science in her hometown and said that COVID-19 regulations have completely changed the way schools operate. “I never thought I’d be teaching half of my kids in-person and half still on Zoom like we did last year,” Lewallen said. “We were not allowed to have lab tables, so students were in individual desks. This made doing group work and labs really difficult.” Experience industry management alumna Hannah Rutter said she was upset that she did not get to experience the same graduation traditions that upperclassmen before her got to experience. “I tried to stay positive and just be thankful that we only got one quarter that was ‘ruined’,” Rutter said. “I think everyone kind of pitied us and it was weird not being able to process that I am finishing this important step in my life.” Rutter said her graduation ceremony that she experienced on Zoom within her major felt more meaningful than if she had had an in-person graduation. “There was a video diary with students saying a little blurb, our professors spoke and awards were given out and it just felt really sweet, personal and intimate,” Rutter said. “With just that ceremony I felt fine and didn’t feel like I needed a big Cal Poly ceremony.” Winter 2020 graduate and business administration alumna Meghan Butler said that she is attending the late ceremony, but feels she has fully graduated from Cal Poly. “I feel like I’m past [graduation] because I have had a job for over a year and I’m living on my own in San Francisco,” Butler said. “I feel like it
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“A PETRI DISH IN PRISONS:”
NEWS
MUSTANG NEWS
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2021
Life inside California Men’s Colony during the pandemic
BY COLE PRESSLER
January was the first time Maria Moore saw her husband’s face in 10 months. Moore’s husband, Michael, is currently serving two life sentences for double murder at California Men’s Colony (CMC), a state correctional facility in San Luis Obispo County. When the pandemic hit, she could not call or visit him and her letters frequently got lost in the mail. Additionally, maskless Men’s Colony staff and a low number of vaccinations among them transmitted COVID-19 to inmates for months like “a wildfire,” according to Maria Moore. Despite making up less than 3% of prisoners in California, the Men’s Colony has accounted for one in 20 COVID-19 cases in California prisons. The Men’s Colony reported 2,460 cumulative inmate COVID-19 cases and 13 COVID-19 related deaths among incarcerated people, placing the prison fourth in
Kylie KowalskI | MUSTANG NEWS The California Men’s Colony (CMC), located approximately 3.5 miles from Cal Poly, has had 2,495 confirmed COVID-19 cases from the beginning of the pandemic to Dec. 1. Thirteen inmates have died of COVID-19 in that duration.
cumulative cases and seventh in most deaths among all the state’s prisons, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). There have also been 689 staff cases. About 80% of incarcerated people at the Men’s Colony are fully vaccinated. However, during the pandemic, the prison also reduced their population. According to Men’s Colony Public Information Officer Lieutenant John Hill, the prison’s population decreased from 3,828 in March 2020 to 3,065 in September 2021. “This is the result of natural releases (those who have served their full sentence as defined by law), expedited releases that occurred between July 2020 and July 2021,
and the temporary suspension of county jail intake off and on throughout the pandemic based on public health guidance,” Hill wrote in an email to Mustang News. The prison also released 21 incarcerated people due to active COVID-19 cases and has only one active case among incarcerated individuals and six staff cases as of Nov. 30. “The approximate 19.8% decrease in CMC’s incarcerated population is clearly reflective of the unprecedented response initiated by CDCR in an attempt to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 within CMC,” Hill said. In April 2020 the CDCR “expedited the release of almost 3,500 incarcerated persons serving a sentence
It became very scary because they’re in complete, complete isolation, I can’t imagine what that must have felt like. MARIA MOORE Wife of CMC inmate
for non-violent offenses, who do not have to register as a sex offender, and who had 60 days or less to serve,” according to their website. In July, they sped up releases for incarcerated individuals with 180 days or less to serve. Cal Poly sociology professor Ryan Alaniz commented about this policy and said that the people who were released are unlikely to commit other crimes. “To protect people from a deadly disease, my understanding is that they allowed some nonviolent offenders to be on parole,” Alaniz said. “It’s not like they’re free forever and don’t have to check in with the courts — they just are able to be on parole.” Michael has been incarcerated
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since 1995 and Maria Moore has known him since 2008. She lives in Los Angeles County and would drive more than three hours every weekend for the past three years to visit her husband at the Men’s Colony from 8:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. “For a long time, phone calls weren’t allowed,” Maria Moore said. “The mail was just terrible ...
MARIA MOORE Wife of CMC inmate
It was correctional officers that brought COVID-19 into prisons because they didn’t believe in the vaccine and put a lot of people in these really small spaces at huge risk.
He said that it’s impossible to say whether the pandemic has been beneficial in changing the functionings of prisons in terms of people being let out early. “We’re still in COVID, and there has not been any drastic change, from my understanding,” Alaniz said. “I have not seen any policies come through that have changed.”
NEWS
RYAN ALANIZ Cal Poly Professor of Sociology
according to Maria Moore. She also said that the prison tests unvaccinated people before and after visits and moves anyone from the West Wing who tests positive into a quarantine building in the East Wing. While he opposes abolishing prisons, Alaniz said that the way they treat humans must be reformed and that prisons fail to prevent formerly incarcerated people from re-offending. Re-offending rates, which is known as recidivism, are around 83% over nine years according to the FBI. “Many of the justifications we have for the criminal justice system have very little and shaky evidence to support them,” Alaniz said. “Rehabilitation is not really happening in prisons.”
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2021
I would get letters about a month and a half after he wrote them.” Video visits for family members started in November but were still hard to obtain — it took two months for Maria Moore to schedule one with her husband. The Men’s Colony is split into two wings — the East Wing, which houses single inmate cells, and the West Wing, which has more communal living spaces with about 60 people sharing a space. Michael Moore lives in the East Wing. “It became very scary because they’re in complete, complete isolation,” Maria Moore said. “I can’t imagine what that must have felt like.”
Since in-person visiting opened up in January, the prison hasn’t had more than three positive cases at once. If a CDCR prison reaches over three, it would revert back to Phase One lockdown, which entails “complete quarantine, back to video visits only, no in-person visits,”
MUSTANG NEWS
With staff bringing it in unknowingly, that created a wildfire
The Vera Institute, an organization devoted to criminal justice reform, described what they believe to be the root of high COVID case levels in prisons: “correctional facilities create unique risks for disease transmission.” Alaniz said the staff in prisons was one reason why COVID-19 rates were so high. “COVID-19 happened and a lot of people got sick because the vaccine wasn’t passed around,” Alaniz said. “It was correctional officers that brought COVID-19 into prisons because they didn’t believe in the vaccine and put a lot of people in these really small spaces at huge risk.” Only 63% of the Men’s Colony staff are vaccinated compared to 80% of the incarcerated population, according to CDCR data. Additionally, on Nov. 27, a federal appeals court blocked a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for California prison workers. “With staff bringing it in unknowingly, that created a wildfire,” Maria Moore said. “It was a petri dish in prisons.” However, when community members held a rally in August protesting for stricter COVID-19 guidelines among prison staff, things changed. “Afterwards, CMC did such a good job of quarantining people,” Maria Moore said.
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Meet the Cal Poly transfer student who appeared on your
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INITIATIVE FOR CLIMATE LEADERSHIP AND RESILIENCE to Host Inaugural Event This Weekend By Audrey Ryan
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Students feel invigorated, cautious and anxious to revitalize a quiet campus
with the return of in-person events
By Naomi Vanderlip
By Tessa Hughes
STUDENT BAND PURPLE HIBISCUS brings soul to San Luis Obispo
By Olivia Meis photo by Jackie Espitia
14
THE DIVIDE:
Head coaches of women’s sports teams earn less head coaches of men’s teams at Cal Poly
The women’s basketball team finished the 2020-2021 season with an overall record of 13-11. They also reached the semifinals of the Big West Tournament after beating Long Beach State in the quarterfinals, according to gopoly.com. The men’s basketball team finished last season with an overall record of 4-20. Despite a recent winning season, women’s basketball head coach Faith Mimnaugh’s salary was over $100,000 less than the salary of men’s basketball head coach John Smith in 2020-2021. According to the 2020-2021 Cal Poly State Employee Compensation Report, Smith’s salary was $350,004 for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, while Mimnaugh’s salary for the same year was $178,608. Of the sports available at Cal Poly that have both male and female programs with separate head coaches, there is no head coach of a female team that had a salary equal to or more than the head coach of the male team during the 20202021 fiscal year, according to the Cal Poly State Employee Compensation Report. The Cal Poly State Employee
Compensation Report is a “report of compensation paid for each employee’s state payroll position regardless of funding source (excluding student employees),” according to its website. Taking a wider look at Cal Poly athletics shows this is a university-wide trend. Recently retired men’s soccer head coach Steve Sampson’s salary was $135,936 for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. Women’s soccer head coach Alex Crozier’s was $97,308. Baseball’s head coach Larry Lee’s salary was $197,820 last year, and softball’s head coach Jenny Condon’s was $109,476. Men’s tennis head coach Nick Carless’ 2020-2021 salary was $82,440 compared to women’s tennis head coach Katherina Winterhalter’s $70,032. Men’s golf head coach Phil Rowe’s salary was $105,000 for the 20202021 fiscal year. Women’s golf head coach Sofie Aagaard’s salary was $81,996 for the same year. This difference in salary size reflects a larger question that has been the focus of discourse surrounding sports compensation: how do we compensate and fund male and female athletics. The United States Women’s
National Team has been advocating for equal pay, even suing the U.S. Soccer Federation on the basis of gender discrimination. More recently, there was controversy over the NCAA tournament setups for the male and female athletes. The NCAA decided to host the tournament in a ‘bubble’ to avoid COVID-19 exposure, inviting the teams to stay, train and play at the same general location. The female athletes quickly realized that the NCAA had not invested the same time and resources into their facilities that they did for the male athletes. The men’s bubble featured a variety of workout equipment and plentiful open space. The women’s setup paled in comparison to the men’s facility, as it included far less equipment. “I have a daughter that played in the NCAA tournament –– the disparity between men’s NCAA tournament and women’s NCAA tournament was disappointing, and it’s sad that women are treated this way,” Smith said. One aspect of this problem is the history of sports for both male and female athletes. Throughout history, men’s sports were often offered and made accessible far earlier than
women’s sports. “As you look at the history of women’s sports and men’s sports,
I have two daughters. I have a daughter that played in the NCAA tournament, the disparity between men’s NCAA tournament and women’s NCAA tournament was disappointing, and it’s sad that women are treated this way
JOHN SMITH Men’s Basketball Head Coach
especially when it comes to the NCAA, you’ve got 40 some years of
women’s participation in the NCAA,” Mimnaugh said. “They were part of the [Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women] prior to that. All men’s sports have been in existence much, much longer so you kind of have to have a long view of history to see all the impacts.” The benefit of a male sports program starting decades before a female program is that they have the chance to build an audience and community around the team. “It takes a lot of time and a lot of resources to get a sports community up to speed, especially when other sports are not going to diminish their efforts,” Mimnaugh said. “You’re not going to see the NFL stop advertising their games, you’re not going to see, you know, the NBA stop advertising their games so that the others can catch up.” Mimnaugh started her head-coaching career in 1993 at the University of Evansville in Indiana, a Division I program. She coached the Aces for two and a half seasons. Mimnaugh then became the assistant coach at Cal Poly for the 1996-1997 season and was promoted to head coach the next year, a position she has retained since. Mimnaugh secured her 300th win as Cal Poly women’s basketball head coach in 2019 after a victory
SPORTS
MUSTANG NEWS
TUESDAY,DECEMBER 7, 2021
BY JACK CLARK
KAYLA STUART | MUSTANG NEWS Cal Poly’s women’s basketball team battles Cal State San Bernadino, beating the Yotes 81-57.
against Lamar University. Smith arrived at Cal Poly for the 2019-2020 season after spending 2013-2019 as associate head coach at Cal State Fullerton, a Division I program. During his time at Fullerton, Smith helped the Titans make back-to-back Big West Championship appearances and a NCAA Tournament appearance. Before coaching at Cal State Fullerton, Smith served as the head coach of Riverside City College and San Bernardino Valley College. Smith also worked as an assistant coach at the College of Southern Idaho, Chaffey College, J.W. North High School and Valley View High School. Despite his lengthy coaching resume, Cal Poly is Smith’s first job as the sole head coach of a Division I program. With a salary of $350,004 for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, Smith had one of the highest salaries of coaches at Cal Poly during his second year. Mimnaugh, having coached at Cal Poly for more than two decades, earned over $100,000 less than her male counterpart last year. “I would love for Faith and everybody else to get paid as much as I do, first and foremost,” Smith said. “I don’t coach basketball for the price tag or the salary.” Former Cal Poly women’s basketball player Abbey Ellis played under Mimnaugh. Ellis said that Mimnaugh deserves more for the hard work she has put into the women’s basketball program.
Former Cal Poly women’s basketball player
ACCORDING TO THE 2020-2021 CAL POLY STATE EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION REPORT
BASKETBALL
MENS HEAD COACH
$350,004
WOMENS HEAD COACH
$178,608
WOMENS HEAD COACH
$109,476
WOMENS HEAD COACH
$97,308
BASEBALL/SOFTBALL
JOHN SMITH Men’s Basketball Head Coach
“I believe, before I got here, the payscale may have been a little bit closer, you know, and what’s the difference?” Smith said. “And the difference could be that they feel that, you know, my coaching staff and where we’re going with this program could, you know, help bring revenue to where we can elevate other salaries.” The NCAA tournament does generate a lot of revenue for all teams that compete. This gives universities a financial incentive to increase the level of their basketball programs. “When I talk about bringing this program up to the level of possibly getting to the NCAA tournament, just like we did at Cal State Fullerton, it’s not just for me and my notoriety or this program,” Smith said. “It’s for this university, and the more money that we can get for this university, I would love for us to put it into women’s sports.” Despite efforts to bring gender equality in the workplace, sports remain a place of contention for many. Coach Mimnaugh said that it might take some radical actions to force the issue to the forefront. “I’m, again, one of these crazy people that wonders if it wouldn’t be better if we had some top men say, ‘OK, well let’s make things equitable in every way,’” Mimnaugh said.
MENS HEAD COACH
$197,820
SOCCER
MENS HEAD COACH
$135,936
GOLF
MENS HEAD COACH
$105,000
WOMENS HEAD COACH
$81,996
TENNIS
MENS HEAD COACH
$82,440
WOMENS HEAD COACH
$70,032
SPORTS
“I just feel that’s just almost to the point where it’s just disrespectful, especially to Coach Faith, cause she has put so much into the basketball program, she has literally shaped that program,” Ellis said. Ellis also said that she felt the women’s basketball team was not viewed in the same light as the men’s team. “We just got kind of pushed to
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TUESDAY,DECEMBER 7, 2021
ABBEY ELLIS
My coaching staff and where we’re going with this program could, you know, help bring revenue to where we can elevate other salaries
PAY DISPARITY IN CAL POLY ATHLETICS
MUSTANG NEWS
I just feel that’s just almost to the point where it’s just disrespectful, especially to Coach Faith, cause she has put so much into the basketball program, she has literally shaped that program
the side almost, that like, you know we put in the same amount of time and effort, play the same amount of games and, it’s just, no one really cared,” Ellis said. Certain sports have the benefit of widespread fan bases and increased viewership. If a certain college sports team is able to achieve success, the revenue gained can help all sports at the university.
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In wake of sexual assault incidents, students launch Instagram page to be a resource BY LAUREN EMO
ARTS & STUDENT LIFE
MUSTANG NEWS
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2021
Editor’s note: This story discusses themes of sexual violence. Hailee Westrick, Ellie Angold, Kylie Walker, Michelle Mueller, Shay Shin, Tiana Reber and Grace Reilly. These are the seven female Cal Poly students dedicated to providing support for sexual assault survivors on campus through the Instagram page SLO Survivors, which they created in early November in the wake of the recent sexual assault incidents on campus. SLO Surviviors is an Instagram page for students and members of the San Luis Obispo community to anonymously share their stories of sexual misconduct on a Google Form linked in the page’s bio. The information is then added to a database and posted on the page upon the reporters’ request. “I want[ed] to create a database because I want all this information that is being posted in this group chat to be centralized,” political science and philosophy sophomore Westrick said. The group chat Westrick is referring to is a GroupMe chat titled “CP Women Supporting Women,” with more than 500 members who can utilize the chat if they require assistance —whether that be a safe ride, advice or other support from their fellow female students. On Nov. 6, members of the “CP
Women Supporting Women” group chat sparked a discussion about multiple sexual assaults that had occurred on and around campus. As multiple women joined into the discourse with their own experiences, Westrick and the others began discussing what actions they could take to track these stories and instigate change. “We kind of already knew it was [happening], but it hit a lot closer to home when we were hearing directly from people we knew,” agriculture systems management sophomore Angold said. Angold is in charge of running the database, a Google Spreadsheet connected to the submission form and processing the data when someone decides to anonymously report to the Instagram page. “We wanted to create an outlet so they could share this information with others, so girls can know what places to avoid, what to look out for,” Angold said. Angold said she plans to release charts and statistics gathered from their form linked to the Instagram page as a way to spread awareness within the community — for example, statistics showing where these cases may be occurring or how frequently they are occurring. In order to “make the accountability ring really small,” Westrick and Angold are the only members of SLO Survivors with access to edit or make changes to the database and
view all the form responses before one makes it to the Instagram page, Westrick said. That way, Westrick and Angold can ensure there is no obvious information included that may give away the identity of the survivor or any outright name-dropping of any individual for legal and safety purposes. Once Westrick draws up a survivor testimony from the form or a general informational post about the page, she sends it to a group chat with all seven girls and receives suggestions
If there’s not a reporting community, then how are we supposed to go and change anything in the future? MICHELLE MUELLER History sophomore
before it is officially posted to the SLO Survivors page. Additionally, SLO Survivors posts numerous resources for survivors and supporters coming to their page in the form of Instagram posts, links to Cal Poly-provided resources in their bio and additional assistance offered at the end of the anonymous submission form. “A big part of our goal moving forward is obviously to give people the platform to share their story, but really to act as a liaison between the student body and those resources,” Westrick said. The anonymity of the form is to protect the submitter and page for safety and legal reasons, however, the girls also aim to minimize victim-blaming against those who come forward to report their stories. “I just know that anonymous reporting allows the victim to go and process things without having to relive the trauma,” history sophomore Mueller said. No questions on the form are required, so the amount of information shared is entirely in the
reporter’s hands. All information is automatically submitted to the database, which can be viewed by anyone who clicks on the link in their bio, however, whether or not the story is posted to the Instagram page is up to the reporter’s choice, which they disclose on the form. “I feel like it’s really, really important that we have more of a reporting system going on within campus because if there’s not a reporting community, then how are we supposed to go and change anything in the future?” history sophomore Mueller said. The account was launched in November and has grown rapidly since, gaining almost 200 followers within the first week, and has now garnered nearly 400 followers. Despite the account’s boost in followers, Westrick maintained that the purpose of the account was to act as a resource. “As far as a following goes, I’m not looking for numbers, I’m not looking for a specific prestige or anything like that. I’m really just hoping that whoever needs it as a resource will use it as a resource,” Westrick said. “And kind of in a backwards loop, I hope our following remains small, because more followers means that more people are going through this, and obviously that’s not the goal.” SLO Survivors is a group
specifically centered on Cal Poly, however, they want to make it clear that sexual assault is not only a problem specific to a region, school or group of people. “The one message I really want to send out personally… is that anybody regardless of your age, your gender, your race, the way you present yourself… anybody is liable to be a f of sexual assault and everybody deserves to be heard regardless of what your story was,” Westrick said. “There are so many layers to sexual assault and I personally think that no matter what happened, you deserve to have a voice, you deserve to be heard and it is important for everybody else to hear you, to take into consideration that those things are happening with their students.” Some members of SLO Survivors aim to someday expand their message past Cal Poly’s campus. “I think it should be on every college campus, because it’s such a big risk,” Angold said. “One in five women are sexually assaulted during their college years, which is way too statistically high… We’re not just for women. We’re for men and women and nonbinary [people] — whoever. We’re just here to support survivors.”
CAL POLY’S MODERN-DAY SEGREGATION
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ALISON CHAVEZ | MUSTANG NEWS Cal Poly’s North Mountain Residence Halls sit at the top of North Perimeter Road, in between Cerro Vista apartments and the Red Bricks. BY CASSANDRA GARCIA
Cassandra Garcia is a journalism freshman and Mustang News opinion columnist. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang News.
in those dorms, it makes you question, “Why are the majority of them wealthy, white students?” The yakʔityutyu dorms have benefits like private study rooms, huge kitchens and bigger co-ed bathrooms that contribute to a better sense of wellbeing, mental health and academic
When looking at the other dorms at Cal Poly, like brand new yakʔityutyu, and seeing the students placed in those dorms, it makes one question, “Why are the majority of them wealthy, white students?” CASSANDRA GARCIA MN Opinion Writer
OPINION
performance. These benefits are not just benefits that make living in those dorms more comfortable, but they also allow students who live there to have a different lifestyle compared to those
students who live in the older dorms. The yakʔityutyu dorms were named to honor the Chumash Native American tribe who were stripped of their land. This is even more of a reason to question why Cal Poly decided to place majority white, wealthy students in these dorms. The students who should be placed in the yakʔityutyu dorms are Cal Poly Scholars, EOP and TRIO students. As stated before, the students in these programs are minority students who have needed financial help due to a system in the U.S. that doesn’t allow minorities to progress. People may also state that these students should be thankful that they have somewhere to live on campus. Yes, they are grateful, but the fact that the North Mountain dorms do not have the same benefits as the other dorms, and they haven’t been recently renovated, gives the impression that Cal Poly doesn’t care about their minority students’ needs. As a woman of color, specifically Latina, living in the North Mountain dorms, I see these problems first hand. It is already hard enough being a woman of color at Cal Poly, but now seeing the lifestyle difference of my white counterparts makes the racism that is ingrained in Cal Poly more prevalent. It’s a system that is being dismantled slowly, but persists in many minority students’ lives at Cal Poly.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2021
Hall. Because of this, Cal Poly effectively segregates most of their minority students and places them in subpar living situations. Some may say that students choose whether or not they want to be a part of the program but that isn’t necessarily true. Cal Poly Scholars, EOP and TRIO all give financial support to students who need it. So while students do have the option to choose whether or not they want to be a part of the program, the financial gain these programs provide ultimately allows these students to attend Cal Poly. North Mountain dorms are the oldest dorms at Cal Poly, making them the cheapest. From the looks of it, Cal Poly automatically places students with financial needs in these dorms, knowing that they are more affordable. While this may seem “kind” of Cal Poly to do, one may ask why they don’t level the playing field by lowering the housing prices altogether or making all the dorms at the university the same price. Cal Poly is the most expensive university in the CSU system. With the higher prices, Cal Poly should be able to afford to make their dorms a fairer price. When looking at the other dorms at Cal Poly, like brand new yakʔityutyu, and seeing the students placed
MUSTANG NEWS
Imagine living in a dorm where maintenance problems are a constant norm and there is no community center to meet other students. But hey, you’re also sharing a bathroom with 11 other people despite it only having two showers, two toilet stalls and two sinks. On top of it all, you didn’t choose which dorm you were placed in since your academic program is what designated you to live there. This is the current problem faced by residents in the North Mountain Residence Halls at Cal Poly. Cal Poly uses Residential Living Communities (RLCs) to designate first and sometimes even secondyear students to a dorm. Most of the time, RLC’s are assigned to residence halls based off of the number of students in the RLC. So if a RLC is large, they will be placed in larger halls with more dorms. When students start their housing application in their Cal Poly housing portal, they can choose which RLC they prefer to be a part of. However, this isn’t the case for students accepted into Cal Poly
Scholars, Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) or are a part of the TRIO program. According to the Cal Poly Scholars website, the program “seeks to support and retain high-achieving students from California schools, who come from low-income backgrounds, by providing financial, academic, and community resources.” Educational Opportunity Program is similar in the way that its main goal is “to improve the access, retention and graduation of students who have been historically, economically and/or educationally disadvantaged,” according to the EOP Cal Poly website. TRIO on the other hand is a “federal outreach and student services [program] designed to identify and provide services for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds,” according to the U.S. Department of Education. Every incoming Cal Poly student gets to rank their preference for an RLC, whether that be mindful living, substance-free or leadership. However, members of these three groups don’t get to choose an RLC and instead must live with others in their program. The problem with this is that the students who are a part of these programs are usually minority students. This year, they were all placed in North Mountain Residence
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photo by Kyle Calzia